Rachel Rom’s black and white, soft cinematic portraits are highly recognizable. Acting as a reporter, she imagines all of her models as passing randomly in the streets with only a second to shoot them, to capture a unique and timeless moment. The resulting images are rich and compelling “snapshots”, captivating and magnetic portraits. Doing so, the artist parts from the traditional forced staging and superficial structure of the media, to create photographs and portraits devoid of artifice.

In the current exhibition, with a scenography by Severine Cattani, she uses her portraits as raw material to create wider compositions. She never exhibits her work in the same state to keep it in constant evolution.

This exhibition refers to Rom’s previous exhibition at Kunstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin like a parallel world. The four installations Echo, Vector, Remanence and Nucleus are to be found on the walls through the intervention of wallpapers. These installations reveal a process of deconstruction, fragmentation and mise en abyme in a rigorously ordered reconstruction of her photographs. Her approach resides in the distance between the author of the work.

Therefore, the exhibition becomes a piece of work as such and the portraits can also be found stacked closer to the viewer. In a way, the distance and the layering create a sort of intimacy that verges to sensuality with the art book published by Prefere. Part of the wallpaper has been printed, folded up and sewn together to create a limited edition of books all different from each other.

The brunch also became the occasion for Rachel Rom to sign the book.

The artist and the publisher generously accepted to put up the work for sale on www.egprunsforrefuge.com. For £100, one can acquire a piece of an acclaimed exhibition while raising much-needed funds for Refuge, a charity that gives shelter to women and children victims of domestic violence. For £80 or £100 you can also have some signed limited editions of Rachel Rom’s photographs.

Rachel Rom’s work is eternally unfinished, it can never wear out; it remains open and can only renew itself.